Seeking Peace
by Myan Mirage
Summary: All around the globe, a handful of people awoke to find their world turned into something out of a horror film. Their families mutated and hungry for flesh, the buried and dead risen, wanting brains. Survival has never been so horrifying.


Amity Park

Fifteen year old Danny Fenton groaned as he shifted on the cold, hard linoleum flooring of his parent's basement laboratory. He groaned again as he sat up, his muscles and joints stiff and tight. He wondered how he'd ended up on the floor in the first place, as well as the amount of time he'd been unconscious. Wincing as his left bicep constricted and cramped, Danny sat and held his arm, looking around the room. The basement was a complete disaster area. Tables were knocked over, some caved in and melted. Danny was immediately curious as to what had caused the melting. Various equipments and weaponry were scattered around the room, some in working condition, and other beyond any possible repair.

Danny stood before collapsing, suffering from a dizzy spell. After the world stopped spinning, Danny limped out of the basement and up to the first floor of his house, trying to regain feeling in his tingling legs. The entire house was silent aside from the ticking of the various wall clocks. Danny glanced around and was surprised to find no one immediately. Danny walked into the kitchen and looked around. Like the basement, everything was in disarray. The kitchen table had been blown against the wall of the back door. Chairs were splinters of wood and metal along the floor. Cabinet doors were either hanging by the hinges or had completely fallen off. The contents of the cabinets were sprayed across the room. Pieces of porcelain and glass littered the floor and countertop. Danny couldn't believe the damage that had been done. His mom would be furious.

Leaving the kitchen, Danny walked down the hall towards the living room. "Mom? Dad? Jazz?" he called as he walked. He waited, and upon receiving no reply, he frowned. Where could his family be? Entering the living room, Danny paused in the doorway. He turned to glance over his shoulder down the dark hallway. In soft, almost scared voice, he said, "Mom? Dad? Jazz?" He was certain he had heard heavy breathing. Once more, he received no response. The teen shook his head. "I'm hearing things," he muttered to himself.

Danny entered the living room. Like the rooms before, it too was chaotic. The windows had been blown in, the glass scattered along the floor. Danny lifted his foot up in surprise when he'd heard the crunching of glass beneath his shoes. The coffee table had been flipped over, the glass centerpiece shattered on the hardwood floor. The door, too, was hanging by its bottom hinge, swinging in the hard wind. However, what caught his attention the most was shredded sofa cushion. Four claw-like marks cut through the fabric revealing the stuffing underneath diagonally, starting from the top right and flowing to the bottom left. It was as though an animal had dragged their claws across it.

"What could have done this?" he whispered. "Who could have done this?"

A loud moan caused Danny to tense, a shiver running down his spine. He turned to the source, which was the hallway. Gulping and trying to ignore the hair rising on the back of his neck, Danny stepped cautiously through the debris and peeked into the hallway. There he found his father. Well, what he thought was his father.

Jack Fenton stood before his son, gazing at him with bloodshot eyes. His skin was a pale green in color and appeared to have been burned off in some places, especially along the left side of his face, which was devoid of skin due to a horrible burn mark. Most of his hair was gone, leaving him mostly bald. However, what scared Danny the most was the look of insatiable hunger and anger that glowed fiercely in his father's eyes.

Danny jumped back, frightened by both his father's appearance and sudden arrival. "Dad?" he said. "What happened to you?" His reply was a roar from his robust father before the man charged him. Danny ran towards the door, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Dad, stop!" he shouted, pausing in his run to stand on the other side of the sofa. Danny ran out of the way as his father leapt across the couch to reach him, displaying an unusual amount of physical strength. Danny ducked towards the stairwell. "Dad, this isn't funny! What's wrong with you?" Jack Fenton growled at his son before roaring, baring sharp teeth that Danny had never known he had before charging him again. Danny ducked upstairs, just missing being crushed by his father. The man, instead, crashed into the wall beside the stairwell, leaving a sizable dent. He removed himself from the crater. Shaking off pieces of plaster and paint, the ghost hunter roared and charged upstairs after his son.

Danny fled to his bedroom, genuinely frightened for his life. He knew something was very wrong here. Something had happened before he'd passed out. Something had happened to cause him to pass out. He was certain of it. Now, his father looked sickly, was ridiculously stronger, and was trying to kill him, or rather, eat him if that insatiable look in his eyes meant anything.

Danny locked his bedroom door and shoved his bed in front of it as a barricade. Immediately upon placing the barricade before his door, something, or rather, someone threw themselves against the door, jarring the bed barricade slightly, and causing the door to bend in on itself before returning to normal. Danny fled to the opposite side of the room, unsure of what to do. He looked around, searching for a weapon before remembering that this was his father. The thought of hurting him made his heart clench.

Jack threw himself against the door again.

Danny felt like curling up in a corner and pretending that none of this was happening. He'd always feared his father trying to kill him because he was a half ghost, but this seemed totally different. Here, his father still didn't know he was Danny Phantom. Here, his father didn't want to kill him for being a half ghost. Danny was certain that his father most likely wanted to _eat _him.

Jack threw himself against the door again. The hinges were giving way.

Wait a second. He was Danny Phantom. He was a half ghost. Why was he just standing in his room waiting to be eaten by the man he called his dad? Danny cursed himself for his stupidity. As Jack threw himself against the door for the third time, Danny focused on transforming. He closed his eyes and waited for the usual rush. It never came. Danny's eyes widened. He couldn't transform.

Jack slammed into the door, effectively breaking it down and sending its barricade across the room. Danny leapt to the side to avoid the speeding bed. It slammed into the wall, leaving a hole and mangling the frame and headboard. Danny scooted himself against the corner, watching his father in raw horror. In his mind, he hoped for dear God that this was some horrible Halloween prank. He'd give anything for Dash and Kim to pop up and start laughing with a video camera on hand. He'd take the ridicule and humiliation any day. His just didn't want this to be real.

Jack Fenton roared inhumanly at his son. He took a step to charge, but stopped short as an axe appeared behind him overhead and embedded itself within his skull. Danny watched in horror as the axe was withdrawn and blood spouted from the large wound. Jack Fenton staggered slightly to his left, allowing Danny to get a look at his savior. However, said person was too fast for him, and by the time he noticed it, he was standing between him and his father, his back to him. The young man lifted the axe with right hand and diagonally sliced Jack Fenton's head off, ending his life. The head fell to the ground, blood spouting from the neck like a geyser. The body collapsed to the ground seconds later, spraying the floor with blood.

Danny stared in horror at the sight before him. His father had just been beheaded by a man who was still wielding the axe, which was dripping with his father's blood. Danny leaned over and vomited, disgust, sorrow, and relief overwhelming him. He sobbed, crying for his father's death. He vomited, disgusted with the style of death. He alternated between sobbing and vomiting, shaking as he did so.

"Why did you kill him?" he shouted once he was finally composed enough to think straight and hold his stomach, though it lurched at the sight of his father's bloodshot, dead eyes. He gagged. "Why did you kill him? You didn't have to kill him?" Tears streamed down his cheeks. "What's going on? What was wrong with him? Why did he try to kill me? What happened?" So many questioned filled his mind and now there was finally someone to ask them to. "Who are you? Why did you save me? Why did you kill him?" Danny shook his head, holding his head in his hands. "Please let this just be a dream. This can't be happening. This isn't happening. Please. Please. Please."

His hysteria was short lived. A sound slap stopped his hysteric babbling. Danny sat in a daze, surprised. He blinked twice before looking up. "No way," he whispered. Standing over Danny wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants was himself. Danny gazed into identical blue eyes.

Finally, all of the excitement, horror, and emotional pain got to him. The boy slumped over, and only because of his copy was he able to avoid slumping over into his own vomit.


End file.
